historic
/hɪˈstɒɹɪk/
"historic" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“historic” is a regularly-used English word, ranked #3,064 in English word frequency and used as an adjective.
- #3,064
- frequency rank, English
- 8
- letters
- 12
- tracked misspellings
- 3
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Very important; noteworthy: having importance or significance in history.
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | historic |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /hɪˈstɒɹɪk/ |
| Letters | 8 |
| Frequency rank | #3,064 |
| Misspellings tracked | 12 |
| Confusable pairs | 3 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “historic” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for historic is 8 letters long, classified as an adjective, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /hɪˈstɒɹɪk/. Corpus data places it at rank #3,064 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. Wiktionary records 4 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 12 likely wrong-spelling variants for historic, with forms such as "hhistoric", "hisotric", and "hisstoric". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. It also participates in 3 confusable-pair relationships, "history", "historical", "historian", since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Latin historicus (“historical”), from Ancient Greek ἱστορικός (historikós, “exact; historical”). Cognate with French historique. By surface analysis, history + -ic. The correct English form is historic, spelled H-I-S-T-O-R-I-C.
Definition
- 1Very important; noteworthy: having importance or significance in history.
- 2Old-fashioned, untouched by modernity.
- 3Synonym of historical: of, concerning, or in accordance with recorded history or the past generally (See usage notes.)
- 4Various grammatical tenses and moods specially used in retelling past events.
Etymology
From Latin historicus (“historical”), from Ancient Greek ἱστορικός (historikós, “exact; historical”). Cognate with French historique. By surface analysis, history + -ic.
Synonyms
Antonyms
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: hhistoric,hisotric,hisstoric,histoirc,historci,historicc,historric,histroic,histtoric,hitsoric,hsitoric,ihstoric
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of historic - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “historic”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is H-I-S-T-O-R-I-C - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /hɪˈstɒɹɪk/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “history” - see the side-by-side comparison. historic vs history
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.